Crime drops in San Marcos

SAN MARCOS -- Local crime dropped more than 20 percent during
the first six months of the year, with the largest decreases in
larceny and auto theft, according to a Sheriff's Department report
released Friday.

"We didn't have a special (unit) on regular thefts," said Lt.
Kim Quaco. "But we did focus on going after people who are under
the influence of drugs who are often the people who steal. If
they're in jail they're not out stealing money to pay for their
drugs."

Quaco said the department's auto theft task force members
recently made a lot of arrests, which cut motor vehicle theft
statistics significantly.

The FBI crime index shows the city's crime rate was 22.1
incidents per 1,000 people, down from 30 per 1,000 people for the
same period last year. FBI index crimes include homicide, rape,
aggravated assault, burglary, larceny and auto theft.

There was a total of 125 crimes counted in the FBI crime index
during the first six months of this year, down by 31 incidents from
last year's six-month figure of 156, according to the Sheriff's
report.

Aggravated assault was the only category that increased, jumping
slightly from 77 to 79 cases.

Quaco said it is difficult for the department to focus on
preventing cases of aggravated assault because many of the
incidents are crimes of passion.

"A lot of the assaults are guys out drinking together and they
get in a fight," he said. "It's kind of hard to have (a unit to
handle) that."

He said a new domestic violence response team the department
started this month should reduce the number of repeat domestic
violence offenders in the future, thus reducing the number of
aggravated assaults.

Burglary decreased to 168 incidents in the first six months of
this year, down 20 from 168 for the same period last year. Larceny
decreased to 298 this year, down by 98 incidents, from last year's
figure of 396. There were 32 fewer auto thefts this year, dropping
from 112 last year to 80 this year.

Rape decreased from seven incidents last year to three incidents
this year. Robbery dropped by nine incidents from 24 last year to
15 this year.

There were no homicides this year or last year.

Mayor Corky Smith said he is pleased that the city's crime rate
is going down.

"We've been down almost every year ever since we put the
Sheriff's station in our city five or six years ago," he said. "Our
guys don't mind people doing crime but they want them to do it in
other neighborhoods. We've got a great group of people in our
sheriff's department."

Quaco said the department will focus on crime prevention during
the next six months.

"We have a lot of new homes going up, so one of the things we're
trying to do is establish neighborhood watches," he said. "We want
to educate people in the new housing areas about burglary and theft
and how to avoid being a victim."